PETALING JAYA: Women’s doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah have attributed their strong run in the Japan Open to their unshakable trust and belief in each other.
Yesterday, Pearly-Thinaah pulled off a sensational 21-13, 21-11 upset win over home favourites and bogey pair Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium to storm into the final.
The world No. 3 pair have a poor record against the world No. 2 duo, only winning once in their past 13 meetings but this time, they overturned the script by delivering arguably their best performance this year to send their rivals packing in just 36 minutes and silence the home crowd.
Pearly-Thinaah played with confidence and aggression throughout and did not allow Matsuyama-Shida much room to dictate play.
The stunning win propelled Pearly-Thinaah to their fourth final of the year after capturing the Thailand Open and finishing runners-up in the Indonesian Open and Masters.
“We communicated a lot and this really helped us in our game play and we really trust, believe in each other and support each other. I think that’s more important than everything,” said Pearly, in a post match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
“Both of us were more patient today (yesterday) and just focused on our game.
“We didn’t want to rush to get points and this helped us a lot to win.”
The win has given the Malaysians a huge confidence boost as they seek to crown their fine run with the title today.
Pearly-Thinaah though face a formidable challenge against China’s world No. 1 Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning in the final.
Shengshu-Tan Ning are also in top form and swept aside teammates and world No. 9 Jia Yifan-Zhang Shuxian 21-7, 21-16 to book their spot in the title match.
Pearly-Thinaah will be seeking revenge against the Chinese duo after losing narrowly to them in the Indonesian Open final last month.
Overall, Shengshu-Tan Ning hold the advantage over Pearly-Thinaah after beating them eight times in their past 11 meetings.
Pearly-Thinaah’s last win over the combo pair came in the Hong Kong Open final last September.
Pearly-Thinaah will not be lacking in confidence though, after ending their long losing streak against Matsuyama-Shida.
Their last and only win before this over the Japanese duo also came in a World Tour Super 750 tournament - the French Open in 2022.
Then, Pearly-Thinaah took down Matsuyama-Shida in the last eight and went on to win the crown. Can they repeat that feat in Japan?
The pair have a chance to create history by becoming the first Malaysians in the women’s doubles to lift the Japan Open title.
Thinaah hopes to raise her game once more with Pearly and deliver a memorable finish in the tourney.
“We just want to rest well, prepare well and discuss with each other and also our coaches on how best to approach the final,” said Thinaah.
“We just hope to give our best tomorrow (today).”
